It’s that time of the year again: the one everyone else gets excited about. Blossom is is bloom, the magnolias are magnificent, the scent of summer is in the air.
But while you guys are putting together plans for a summer getaway, we’re filling the calendar with events and festivals, still a bit unclear where it’s all going to land. The only thing we can be sure of is that a holiday of our own is unlikely: summer is our busy season.
This year, everything looks a little different. Festivals are struggling the same as everyone else, so a lot of the events we’ve been catering for years have put their prices up by three, four, or even five times what we used to pay.
That’s the smaller, independent ones, anyway. The UK’s biggest festivals, most of which are now run by Live Nation, don’t need the extra cash, but they’ll take what’s going. There’s a reason your burger at Wilderness is priced at £17 before you’ve even thought to add fries, and it’s got little to do with the cost of living: Live Nation take over 30% of everything that goes through the till.
We love a nomadic summer. This is Yeshi’s opportunity to air the kids in the outdoor life he led as a child in Tibet. They travel with us and get a musical and literary education, but there’s pastoral and anthropological – if not quite zoological – learning besides: we’re moving from field to field and demographic to demographic each time.
Over the past few years we’ve had to say goodbye to many of our favourite festivals as fees have risen beyond the reasonable, but in 2026 it feels as if they’re dropping like flies.
Well, change is good. Or rather, it’s inevitable, so we are best just going with it. Tibetans are adept at this: Buddhism teaches that there’s no point trying to wish things back to the way they were, that we deepen our suffering by clinging to what we have lost.
We’re so lucky we don’t have all our eggs in the festival basket. And the good news for our amazing community here in Oxford is that fewer festivals = more time for momos outdoors at the restaurant. We’ll let you know once our summer calendar has taken shape, but we’re looking forward to being around a bit more – watch this space.
For now, the restaurant is business as usual. Our opening times this week are as follows:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3/ 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3 / 5-9pm
This week’s menu is up on the website – check it. Come for dine in, take away and a restock of your freezer. And – drumroll please – sepen chilli oil is back in stock for those who cannot cook without.
Newsletter subscribers always enjoy special offers at our restaurant. This week we’re offering you a free chai with your meal. Not yet signed up? Click here to claim the deal.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm
Saturday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9pm
☏ 01865 499318
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